The Forestry Forum

My family has discussed the idea of renting an RV for a few years and yesterday we got one booked for 2 weeks starting June 13th. So, I guess we're taking a road trip. There were a couple options for directions we could go, both started, more or less, with a trip to the Henry Ford Museum (I'm not sure, in Covid times, how I'll like it but everyone says it's great). Next was head east or west from there. The plan, going west, would be essentially out to Mt. Rushmore. Lots of boring scenery but more my style. The plan, going east, would be essentially out to the coast past Niagara Falls, then maybe Boston/Cape Cod, then south to maybe N. Carolina. The family has chosen the east route. 

I'm honestly conflicted about the trip. It's going to be very expensive, I'll do every bit of driving (which I'd do anyway) and I'm not positive where to go. I really enjoy not having plans and taking an RV seems like it's a bit forgiving in that we are driving our bedroom, but also it's a bit restrictive because I assume we'll need to pick up water and dump sewage occasionally, and they seem to frown on just tossing the sewage line in the gutter, and using someone's hose to fill up... 

The good side is it'll likely be a fun adventure and my kids are getting older (15 and 13), so there are only so many more of these kinds of trips. We've taken a couple big road trip trips so the kids are good at riding along.

So, I need some advice or suggestions of things to do, places to stop, weird things to see, etc. I'm not a huge fan of cities, though I think we'll end up driving through NYC and Philly at some point, not stopping if I can help it. I'd rather see nature or oddities. 

I'm looking at KOA campgrounds but I don't know if that's the best option, I'm also fine with sleeping in rest areas on occasion too. 

Some of you (I'm initially thinking @Old Greenhorn (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=42103) ) may be close enough, along the way, that I'd be interested to find a place to have a beer. 

What do you world (American East) travelers think?

Before I work up a longer reply, what do the folks in your family enjoy? Sports, music, art, hiking, fishing, what? Especially your spouse, gotta keep her happy too.
 Jus t like buying sawmills, give us a little more to work with first. ;D

Myrtle beach, SC  :)

I visited there in 2009 and really liked it, also Savannah in Georgia..

  Tom is right on track with what do the family prefer? I love the unscheduled trips and we'd stop at anything of interest from a flea market to a cloth store to an alligator farm etc. State and National parks can be a pleasant surprise. I think many of the rest areas along the way will have dump stations. If you are traveling the interstate every state will have a welcome station at or near the first exit when you enter the state and if you pop in during working hours there will be an attendant or two who can advise you on points of interest in the state. They will typically have hundreds of brochures from local government and private enterprises.

  If you happen to come back up I-64 or I-77 from North Carolina I know a parking spot plenty big enough for an RV about 10-12 miles from where they run together in Beckley WV. ;)  

   Its 7 miles to a COE dam with Bluestone Lake above the dam and the New River below with swimming, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, etc if they are into that. There are several nice state parks in the area and other points of interest. It looks to be 283 miles on back up to Dayton. Just a thought to keep in mind if you're in the area.

For North Carolina, I will be glad to share some ideas.  The state is over 500 miles from the coast to the mountains.  What part(s) do you want to see?  What type places?  Off the beaten track or in the thick of touristy things?

My wife and I have logged many thousands of RV miles. There's no right way to do it.  Just don't try to be too ambitious with travel days.  Leave some time to set up camp and to squeeze in a couple of side trips to see the unexpected along the way.  We like to pick fewer places to visit and stay a little longer rather than spend just one or two nights somewhere.

There are many apps for your phone that can help you find camping spots.  Two are Campendium and  Ultimate Campground.  Campendium lists commerical campgrounds Ultimate Campground lists public - state and national parks etc.  

The Air BnB of camping is called Hipcamp - it is great for out of the way places.  Another way to camp at interesting places is Harvest Host, which is a group of farms, vineyards and other businesses that offer campsites to travelers.

  We used to host Foreign exchange students and we took several through Cherokee through the Indian village tour there and watched the play "Unto these Hills" which told the story of the Cherokee. The little kids liked the shooting and war dances and Indians jumping around. The older kids actually learned a little history. 

   If you come up I-77 from NC at Exit 58 in Virginia is a reconstructed Palisaded Indian village run by the county that we like to take visitors to go see. It is 1/2 mile off the interstate, well marked and right behind a Loves Truck stop there. My grandkids liked it when young and adults find it interesting and educational.

Outer Banks of North Carolina Hatteras Island. 

   And the Kitty Hawk/Wright Brothers museum near there.

Just rember all the tired truck drivers looking for a place to park to get some sleep

The 40 years I drove over the road rest areas full of Rvs thinking it was acamp ground

40 years is a lot of time behind that wheel goose. It ain't easy on the body. Cheers. smiley_beertoast

I've done Niagara, Nova Scotia, Outer banks. Also several trips out west and 2 to Alaska. Since I live in Florida, I prefer the west. If you head to Mt. Rushmore, gotta see Wall Drug :D. Rushmore is good but I enjoyed Wind Cave and the state park with the donkeys just south of Rushmore more. I think it was Custer State Park, beautiful.

Out west you will be able to find a few Walmarts to make a quick overnight in. They are there but fewer on the east coast that allow that. You might check into PassportAmerica or one of the other discount clubs, it will get you a 50% camping discount. Caution- there are a lot of restrictions, so read the fine print. If you use it 3-4 times you will save money.

Learning the RV lifestyle is definitely a learning curve when you have to figure holding tanks, dump stations, battery usage, all the good stuff. If you can book reservations in the national parks (good luck with that) or BLM land you will find bargains. Commercial campgrounds have consolidated in the last few years and they are pricey these days.

If you get to Florida (and maybe Georgia that time of year), look me up. I have RV accommodations at both places.

Are you towing a small vehicle? Parking an RV is often a challenge.

I always favored well water.  As long as it's from a faucet you know is safe, and run in with the tasteless white hose with stainless fittings, it was good for us.

I never felt guilty about dumping the gray water tank in a ditch, but the black water tank only got emptied in a proper place.  The gray water tank holds sink, and shower water.  As long as anyone taking a shower doesn't get too liberal with soap, it doesn't leave much of a telltale trace.  The gray water tank will most of the time fill much faster than the black water tank.  The only thing that goes in the black water tank is the toilet, which sits directly over it.

We have a dumping/hookup station at home.  It's just a tee into the main drain into a septic tank that has a screw out plug in it.  You'll see different types of hookups but the idea is always the same.

We liked the accordion plastic thing that supports the drain line all the way to the outlet in an even slope.  It makes it much simpler to handle the line.  About all you have to do is run enough water though it to clean it out, and it empties itself on that track.
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If you think you are going to the Outer Banks, it is best to make reservations soon.  

I suggest camping somewhere in Eastern NC so that the drive to Hatteras is less than a day's drive.  The distance from Nags Head is only 70 miles but it can be a slow drive.  Some of it is 35 mph.  But if planned right it is an awesome trip.  

There are several campgrounds including a KOA.   There is a passenger ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke that's worth the trip for a day.  Forget taking a car to Ocracoke there's a free trolley to take you anywhere.  The car ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke has long wait times in the summer. 

In Buxton, the Hatteras Lighthouse is a must see.  It's the lighthouse they moved over a mile.  The Frisco Woods Campground is a favorite of ours at Buxton. 

Of course the beaches are beautiful.  

I reread your post. Rest areas along interstates are terrible. Really noisy and very little if any security. I avoid them for overnight. Walmarts are much better if you can find them.

I see you have 4 people? What size RV? That determines how long you can be on the road with getting water or dumping tanks. I travel with just 2, we conserve and can make 5-7 days without facilities. My water tank holds 100 gallons and 40 septic. If you are not careful, you'll be dumping and filling daily.

KOA are nice sites, also the very expensive. In the Keys where I typically go, a KOA site can top $200.00 a night :embarassed:.

When I went to Nova Scotia, I did not go within 75 miles of NYC, not my kinda of place. Think about where you are gonna park the RV, they are easy targets on the road.

Figure a day a week to find a laundry mat.

Depending on where you go, it can be hot in June. RV's can get really warm inside, especially in the summer.

I'd stay far,away from NYC especially with a rv. 

   If you are coming down the coast through VA Colonial Williamsburg is an option. 

   Be careful about scheduling too much or you will be too busy rushing from point to point and not have to time to stop and actually see them.

   My favorite spots are places like little backroads with a community store to o wonder through. The wife and kids may have a different view. 

   I used to do that in Africa and stop at the community store, go buy me and my driver and any locals around the store area a beer or a coke (A 20 ounce local beer was cheaper than a coke), talk a while and as often as not I'd pick up a local guide who'd take me on a tour of the village and surrounding area. I'd tip him $5 or so in local currency which was a weeks wages for him plus he got to ride in a Moto which was sometimes a big deal. Having a local face along would get me access to places other outsiders never saw.

You will absolutely despise trying to drive from Boston to Virginia on 95 in an RV. I would seriously suggest not doing that. The entire route is heavy traffic, many cities you pass through, tolls, did I mention horrible traffic? 

Once you are south of Richmond, VA it improves a lot and getting to NC isn't bad, but north of there... DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC.  I won't do it. 

Don't over plan it,, leave lots of time. Pick a route, go for it and enjoy the journey. We would be on the road by 9, stop for lunch and start looking for a campground around 4 to set up and enjoy happy hour before dinner. Sometimes we would travel 300 miles per day, sometimes 150 it all depended on what caught our interest. We found some really neat out of the way places off the beaten track, fabulous food and great people.
We tried to stay off the interstates and away from the cities but sometimes that didn't work. Going south from Vancouver meant Seattle and Portland (yech) but they were a small price to pay.

Gettysburg. 
And I agree with Southside. 95 is rough.

X2 or x10 on what Southside said about i95. Us15 through Gettysburg would be a good trip once you got back west and got on it.  Lot's of historic and interesting things on that route. Cut back over to Fredericksburg when got into Virginia a ways. 

If you had to take i95, leave Boston about 9:30 or 10 pm and make sure you're south of fredericksburg by 6:00 am. 

Should be a nice family trip wherever you go. Sounds like a Griswald vacation a little bit.  lol  Have fun and travel safely. 

If y'all are set on the Boston/Cape Cod destination you could easily spend two weeks in the northeast. Don't forget Martha's Vineyard if you're in that area.  Newport RI is interesting. North up the Maine Coast, New Hampshire, etc.  Lots of good seafood to eat up there. 

Well, I don't see any bad advice in what I read above, it's all good. I won't even take a stab because we still don't know what your family's interests are and maybe how old the youngsters are. Trips like this should involve the whole family and that planning can be as much fun as the trip. It should get you kids looking into research for what THEY would like to do. When you start narrowing a path or find some points to focus on, then you can fill in the blanks. Leave yourselves some 'catch up' time along the road with a layover.
 Agreed, stay away from NYC with that RV. I had a buddy wanted to see the city so he drove from WI and camped in my yard, then drove across the river and took the train in. Much easier on him. Parking ANYTHING in the city is a hassle and expensive. While we are at it. If you need a rent free night to relax, my shop driveway is open and I can provide basic electric, but I have no dump station. I am minutes from Woodstock which is a huge tourist attraction, given the music history..
 How big is that RV anyway?

Not sure how big your  renting but we used to have a 35 ft class a Winnebago and always had my wife's car on the dolly or Harleys in the trailer behind  it. We found the height and width  of it could limit what you had easy access  to. We would  pick a spot to camp central to areas we were visiting and use the Car or motorcycle for the day trips that really let's you explore an area better and not have to spend hundreds  of dollars  on tolls and parking fees. Plus the aggravation of navigating gridlock traffic in popular areas. Then we would just move on to the next location and do the same thing. If you have a smaller front wheel drive car I definitely  would  recommend renting  a dolly and dragging  it behind  you. Campgrounds are very busy that time of year so start planning  early for reservations and look into the type of device needed to pay tolls on the roads along your  route to keep tolls down. Some bridges down by NY can cost a fortune if you don't use easy pass with a motorhome and they use the license number for payment. Used to be you could use Walmart and mall parking lots for overnights but many areas that will get you a fine now so plan the route carefully. It's  a great way to travel if you plan ahead and use old friends driveways overnight when you get the chance. 

21Incher brought up a good point - size.  If you go through NY - don't attempt to drive on anything called a "parkway" with that RV.  If you choose to disregard my advice on that, all I can say is duck when you get to the first bridge.  :D

Oh - and do not ever turn onto on a "Township highway" along the West Virginia / Ohio line.  Lets just say I am glad some kid on a bicycle didn't meet me because one of us would have been heading into the trees, and that was before the 200 point, 90 degree turn, 8'8" bridge.  

   I strongly agree with 21" on towing the smaller vehicle but I disagree with the reservations part. He is right it is a busy time and that is the smart thing to do but if you do too much of that you just limited your flexibility to visit unexpected things you find along the way. A compromise may be to reserve 2-3 day at a spot then use that as a base camp and use your towed vehicle to explore.

  The best trips I ever had were highly unstructured. If we got there and did not like it we left early but if we did we'd stay longer or stop anywhere along the way if we spotted something unusual we liked.

  If you are rushed every day to leave early to get to the next reserved campsite you are going to miss a lot. JMHO.

Quote from: Raider Bill on January 24, 2022, 05:43:56 PM
I'd stay far,away from NYC especially with a rv.

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don't rely on signs, plan ahead.
what size rig, gas or diesel? 
rented rv  water systems can be really cruddy.  

Some good advice here about having/not having reservations for your destinations. It works both ways. I've done both kinds of trips. If you are looking for a parking place at 10 pm at night in an unfamiliar area, especially on the east coast, you might not sleep well that night.

If you haven't RV'd in the past year or so, be aware that there are about 1.5 million new RV's that have been put on the road since COVID began. Record number of units produced yearly for the last several years. Campgrounds have consolidated under bigger companies but they have not added a corresponding number of new campsites.

Google and read as many RV articles that pertain to what you want to do and how you want to do it. I've camped since the mid 70's and I can tell you, it ain't like it used to be!

   Interesting link there from Whiskers.

    A hazard around here is the A/C units on top so be real sure you know your  clearance. We have overhanging limbs on many of our county roads that are real friendly and love to reach out and shake hands with out of town A/C units on top of passing RVs.

   I know of one local road with a tunnel height of 9'6". It does have warnings well in advance. 

   When I drove a truck I had a trucker's guide that listed any height restrictions on the route so as part of our trip planning we'd verify there was nothing on the route lower than our truck height. As I remember anything under 13'6" had to be listed. I don't know if there is such a guide for RVs.

Holy replies, Batman! Thanks gang!

Let's see if I can hit the questions... My kids are 15 and 13. We like to do some light hiking/walking, some museuming, swimming, and a lot of stuff that seems similar to WV Sawmiller; flea markets, shops, weird places, meals (surprisingly, we've also stopped at cloth stores!). The wife and I are big fans of looking at nature, the kids get a little antsy with that but I don't mind slowing them down a bit. Historic places are always neat.

The RV is a 30 footer (https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-rentals/our-vehicles/large-rv), gas fueled, I've definitely considered the roads an RV may not fit on. I'm not entirely sure what can be done about that other than use my best judgement. I've certainly considered some backroads that may be a problem. I've also spent some time on the Ohio/WV so I understand what Southside is saying about impassible spots! Specs are: 30 ft. long, 55 gal fuel tank, 40 gal fresh water tank, 25 gal sewage tank, 22 gal grey water tank, 



I'd much rather not have many scheduled stops, I agree with being tied down to locations and timeframes doesn't sound like much fun. And, yeah, it does feel like a Griswold vacation! We considered Outer Banks/Kittyhawk/Nags Head, that's a neat place. I like the idea of staying off the interstates as possible. Stay off 95, ok! I'd like to see NYC from the vehicle, not hang out at all, but maybe we'll skip that.

btulloh- I considered heading north of Taxechussets a bit, that may still be an option.

OGH- Excellent call on getting the kids to research some, they'll love to do that.

OGH and WV Sawmiller, Beware, I may take you up on your spots! Thank you for offering! I like to think we are gracious guests and hopefully you'd be fine to have us! Consider what kinds of beer or bourbons you like and let me know!

I considered towing the car, I know it's a good idea but haven't decided if we'll go that route or not.

Thank you guys for all the suggestions and info! Keep it coming if you think of other stuff! You guys rock!

NYC= Manhattan where all the seeing is to be done such as skyscrapers,museums, Times square, people watch/freak show is NOT RV friendly. Nothing in that area is. Even if you found a place to park it for a few hours I'd bet it would be hundreds of $$$.

Also, New York Sate is NOT firearm friendly. They do not recognize any other states permits.

The Adirondacks and Catskills are beautiful.

Gettysburg.

   WARNING - be polite to the locals if you visit WV and other parts of Appalachia.

   I was talking to a neighbor about 20 years ago and a guy pulled up in a 40' motorhome on our little county road and stopped and motioned for us to come over instead of getting out to come see is. His tone was pretty condescending almost like "Hey Rubes, where does so and so live." My neighbor immediately replied and a very submissive tone "Oh yes sir. Glad to help. You drive on up this road about three miles and come to a fork. Take that right fork and they are about 2 miles ahead on the left. You can't miss them." The guy drove off without so much as a thank you or anything.

  As he drove off I told my neighbor "Keith, you just sent him up to Freezeland Mountain. There is no place he can turn that rig around up there and he's going to have to back it all the way back down. Why did you do that?"

  My neighbor paused a bit and replied "Yeah I thought about that but I hadn't done nothin good for nobody all day and couldn't think of no reason to start now."

  Anyway if you're in the area give us a shout. We love to see/meet other FF members.

Well, as you are in the planning stages and thinking the whole thing through at this point. I am not trying to sell you on our area or any other one, just gonna list some things around here that may grab somebodies interest from the perspective of a family trip.
 First, you may want to consider renting a small car in a few areas you stop at for more than a day or two to tour the area, this can take a lot of stress off handing that monster and picking up stakes just to go get food. Also you won't have the extra fuel towing costs. Just another option.

For around here, I can think of the following stuff in our general area that others have traveled here to see. Now if NYC is on your mind, I have had several guests who come and leave their vehicle at our place then take the train to NYC for the day. I could maybe provide shuttle service to and from the train station if you like, but keep in mind ticket costs, etc. NYC is an interesting pace to walk around, but I would suggest you carefully research and have a plan before you go. You would be getting on the train in Rhinebeck or Poughkeepsie from my place.

 Share this list with your kids and let them do some research to see if anything pops out:
Baseball Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY
Hudson River Maritime Museum and Boat building institute in Kingston NY (10 minutes form us.) is very good.
Woodstock, NY (Bearsville theater, Shopping, Music, people watching, and 'stuff'. I could give you a little driving tour of some of the unknown stuff, like where artists live, etc.)
 There is a very fine rustic campground on top of the Devil's Tombstone nearly in the center of the Catskills which gives direct foot access to the hundreds of miles of hiking trails. Great place to stay and the trails run right through the campground. There is a great hike up to the east from the CG that is challenging in summer and a killer in winter. 1,500 foot gain in under a mile. Great views. This is a State CG and reservations need to be made early. Very popular. They have a good website.

 Hiking in general is all around us. Hundreds of miles of trails within short drives of my place.
 Fishing, likewise is all around us. If you want to fish the reservoirs, you can get a permit online, but you still need a state license. I think you can buy day licenses online now.
 Albany (an hour north of me) has some great museums and such.
 Live music can be found everywhere 7 days a week around here, but we won't know who, what, or when until we get closer. The Gray Fox Bluegrass Festival is in July and that is made for families and RV's but it's not going to fit with your timeline and that is a 4 day deal anyway.
 There are a lot of smaller museums around the area, but these are dependent on your more specific interests. If your wife happens to be a quilter, my wife can make up a list for her. There is a big store up in Windham she goes to a few times a year, but you have to hit the hours right. Windham is just over the hill from Barge country about 15 minutes.

 I checked with the boss and we are good with y'all plopping down here for a couple of days and using us as a base camp. I can feed you electric, but I wouldn't put our well water in your tank, we don't drink it either (too much iron), but it's fine for cooking and washing. I could spend a day shuttling you around or touring some sites. We certainly have room for a campfire and other stuff and if you ask nice I can give you a sawmill tour. :D Obviously, as the summer events get posted I will pass along anything that might work for you. Right now the only ones I can think of don't coincide with your dates. Also, I will be at Grey fox from July 11-18, so unless you are there, you won't see me, sorry.

 Put your kids to work and see what you come up with. Have fun with it!

   Washington DC actually has some interesting things to see and the traffic is among the biggest negatives. If you can find a campground near the subway and ride it into DC you could go see the various Smithsonian museums, the Smithsonian zoo, etc. Take the kids to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch then walk around the corner to Ford's Theater run by the Park service and get the details about the Lincoln assassination then walk downstairs to the museum. I never realized how many, apparently innocent people got caught up in the aftermath. We visited the Bureau of Printing and saw where the money was made and such. Many of those things are free.

  My wife took her high school band up there and stayed near Baltimore and caught the subway into the city. Seems like there was a Medieval Times dinner show we went to near where we were staying that the kids really liked.

   EDIT/ADD-ON: Many of the hotels and I suspect campgrounds around the area offer shuttles to the nearest subway entrance and from there access to most anywhere in the District is easy. You don't have to stay close to DC just close enough to get to the subway.

We rented a motorhome coming up eight years ago this June. We went north of home into north Dakota then west to the coast and into northern Calif. About seven thousand miles in total in three weeks. We were going to take my wife's Jeep Wrangler on our tow dolly but we couldn't get the motorhomes insurance and our insurance company's to play nice with each other so we left the Jeep at home. Our goal was to stay off the interstates and not eat at chain places. We normally stayed in camp grounds every second or third night and ate in the camper in the morning and noon and found a local cafe in a small town in the evening. Its was a good trip and I saw a lot of country I hadn't ever seen. It wasn't cheap back then. It was just my wife and myself.   

Lots of good stuff being mentioned in theses posts. Everywhere across this country has interesting and fun things to do and see.  It would take a lifetime to see just some it.  

And then there's the rest of the world . . .

WV. By chance does your neighbor sell squirrels? 

In the DC area, I stayed at a campground on the north side of town, Greenbelt Campground, run by the National Park Service. About 10 miles NE of Washington. Had train station right next to it. It was beautiful, not crowded, and inexpensive.

There's a bike path that goes from Mt. Vernon (George  Washington's home) to Harpers Ferry WV along the old C&O canal/Potomac River. (Oops - I'm co-mingling two different bike paths there, Mt. Vernon is on the south side of the River and the C&O is on the north side.  But there's a connection at some point I think.)

A couple things you should  check with  theRV dealer if you are planning  on backroads are the GVW of the RV and if it's 96 or 102 inches  wide. Most units  are 102 and each state has different rules on roads. Plus another  issue  we ran into was max bridge weight ratings. Many rentals will be available in both widths and from the sound  of your  plans you may want to stick to the 96 wide 18000 pound chassis with lower clearance that won't limit back road usage in states like NY.  Definitely  plan major stops ahead because there will be more RVs on the road then ever this summer and many  RV parks have switched a large numbers of sites to seasonal rentals lately limiting availability. 
One of my favorite parks was Burlingame State Park in Rhode Island near Mystic  Seaport and many small coastal towns. Have fun.

I'll ease everyone's concerns about NYC, we'll just skip it. I don't like cities to begin with and enough of you have said it will be a drag to drive through. My wife has already said she wants nothing to do with it. 

I looked into towing my car and Uhaul wants like 700 bucks to rent me the trailer thing, so that's out. Locally renting a car may be a great idea depending on where we go.

Raider Bill- I didn't consider bringing a firearm but thank you for mentioning it! Gettysburg is on my list now!

WV- I've lived in WV (just east of Huntington) for a short spell, and while I try to be friendly to everyone I can appreciate the WV'ers. They were always more friendly and accepting of me being a weird kid than anywhere else I went. I've got you on my list if we are moseying through the area! I'd love to meet you and hear some of your stories first hand!

OGH- That sounds terribly generous of you and the boss! I think we'd be interested to see the Maritime museum and Woodstock. Not to mention, after listening to From the Forest, just driving around to see all the little towns that are mentioned. It sounds like that whole area is pretty neat. My wife is a purse maker and loves checking out fabric stores, she doesn't quilt. I've been to a couple fabric stores with her and they were more interesting than I'd thought they'd be. 

I'm not sure about DC. We've all been semi-recently and while I think the mall area is neat it's a day that may be better spent elsewhere, we'll consider it though. 

btulloh- That bike route sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately, my slacker son doesn't ride a bike, so I'd have to put a full sized adult seat on the back of mine!

21incher- Good call. Accessibility in this big ol' vehicle is one thing I'm a bit nervous about. 

Thanks again guys, I didn't expect nearly this much help/advice/kind words! As we get closer to the time I'll probably hit a couple of you up!

   I'm surprised U-haul wants that much for a 2 wheeled dolly. You might look around and find one reasonably cheap, use it for the trip then sell it when you get done with it and get most, if not all your money back. Or you might put out feelers and find someone nearby who has one they'd rent cheap for a few weeks. I'm surprised the camper places don't rent them - actually they may so you might check with them or at least ask for their suggestions. 

If I were to go to the east coast, would want to check out the Jamestown colony, have seen shows on TV how they are excavating there, and Williamsburg. Also would like to go along the coast of MD, and stop and check out the records in Caroline County, as my family lived there for some time early in our American history. Then down to Guilford county NC, same reason, and on to Dillon county SC, same reason.  Found my family in Dillon county SC census 1810, before they came west. There are lots of records you can comb through along the east coast, and interesting if your family was there 200 -300 years ago.

Yeah, you could buy a car dolly for the rental price, but dragging a car behind a 30' rig would not be my choice for a first time RV trip. Consider that rentals can have 'issues' and you might lose some time on fixing it, add another vehicle and that extra fuel and it just raises the chances.

 I will second Gettysburg been there many times and it get better every few years. The electric map was a disappointment when I saw it in the 60's, very hokey, but when they re-did it in the 70's it was really cool. Lots to do there. Many campgrounds too as I recall. 

 Likewise Williamsburg there is a ton to do there. We've been several times and the last time was on our honeymoon (camping), so 45 years ago this April. If you go there, look for the Lightfoot Pottery Factory, just a neat place to shop and walk around, or at least it was and I hope it still is.

 We have yet to hear what your kids want to get out of this, I'm curious.

Sounds like a great  adventure brewing. Looking forward to the recap.

On a serious note.  If you go to Maine, the coast is where everyone goes.  It's touristy, has some nice features.  But if you want to see the other part of the state head north, past the end of I-95, and keep going on Rt 1.  Aroostook "The County".  Thousands of acres of potato fields will be coming into bloom toward the end of your trip, the moose will still be around, the Fish River chain of lakes in The Valley will be busting salmon and trout.  You can make a loop south via Rt 11 and be right on the edge of 2 million acres of working commercial timber ground.  It will be polar opposite from the coast in terms of both population and geography / topography, and it's absolutely beautiful.  

Welp, here's the route so far, and I've booked sites for the first week. Dayton to Detroit (Henry Ford Museum, staying in a KOA, 2 nights, lakeside spot!), Detroit to Niagara Falls (staying at State park on Lake Ontario, 2 nights, Lakeside spot!), Niagara Falls to Lake Piesco, NY (staying in state park, 1 night, lakeside spot!), Lake Piesco to Mt. Washington, NH (staying at a localish campground, 2 nights) Going to ride the Cog to the top!


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From there I'm not sure. I didn't expect to take a week to get to New Hampshire and I'm potentially aiming to keep the rest of the trip less planned. 

From here I could swing down to OGH's neck of the woods, or head down the coast(ish) and maybe get as far as Virginia before turning around to come home.

What do y'all think? 

OK, looks like you have a plan! I'm sure that wasn't easy to settle on. ;D I can't blow your map up enough to be sure of your route, but it looks like you will be crossing NYS on I90 (Thruway). FYI, that will have you passing just about 30 minutes north of Barge Country and 50 minutes north of me. You got a route that allows lots of 'in flight options' which is good. You could detour up to the thousand islands region for a day, for instance along with dozens of other options along the way. The route you are on will also take you close to WoodMizer, NY, past Charles Stahl logging and JS Logging (just sayin'). Both of these are 10 minutes off the thruway.
 By the time you are thinking about maybe hanging out around here, you guys may have your RV game pretty nailed down and can just use my driveway. I have electric and I MIGHT be able to arrange a dump station 2 miles away. I'd have to check on that.
 Having a plan is more than half the battle!

Thanks Tom! You rock! 

My guess is we'll either stay away from the coast in the Mass, Rhode Island area (I wouldn't mind seeing all the big houses in Newport) and I'll take you up on the offer, or we'll stay along the coast and I'll have to catch you a different time. There seems to be a lot of neat stuff by you, so I'm inclined to go that way, but there needs to be a few conversations with the family first. I know my son wants to go to the beach but my daughter doesn't really.

I'm actually aiming to stay off the highway as much as possible. The trip from our campground around Niagara Falls to Mt. Washington is claimed to be about 10-10.5 hours, which I assume is likely closer to 14+ in an RV, and I've attempted to go on a lot of backroads to make the journey. Though it's certainly no guarantee I've actually followed along for pretty much every mile, on Google Maps, to make sure there wasn't any low bridges or spots that look like trouble.

You are right about it not being easy to settle on something. I hope we get clear weather at Mt. Washington and I didn't know that I wanted it to be a destination until I looked at it, but then I didn't realize it was so far away. Beyond that I'm guessing at places, and with my brain that can be a bit nerve wracking. 

Sounds like an awesome trip is in the works!  Mount Washington should be a highlight!  Looks like you have a couple of nights stay at the campgrounds which should slow the pace a bit - which is the whole reason for a vacation!

The coast of New Jersey or Maryland might be a good alternative to spending another day in the RV on the road to Virginia.  There appear to be many campground options in that area both public and private.

Yea Mt Washington. I am a few hours from there, did it a couple years ago. Very odd, the trees get smaller as you go up. 
Everything is normal and then it's like someone switched a light off.

The Kangamangus Highway goes through a National Forest not far from Mt Washington.  Many, many, camping sites and a lot of scenic hiking trails that you could go on.  It's a very comfortable place to spend time.    

Time is drawing close. How goes it with your plans?

Ha! Ya know, I've got the first week planned pretty well, but I can't get myself to work out the second week... The kids want to see the beach and we could swing down your way on the way to some New Jersey boardwalk. I don't know yet, really. 

It is getting here quick! If you are holding up other plans because you said I could park in your driveway please don't and know that I hugely appreciate the offer. I like the idea of seeing you and some of the stuff in your neck of the woods but I'm struggling to figure out really where I need to be and when I need to be heading back towards home. 

I'll try to give you a firm answer this week, unless you already have other things you'd like to do (and please let me know, I won't be offended and I'm well aware that my plans, or lack of, shouldn't hold you up). 

If it helps at all it looks like we'd be your way on the 20th, driving in from Mt. Washington. 

No problem at all either way. I just have to make sure that electrical hookup is working OK. My son tells me it is not. I could just drop a cord from the shop, it's close enough.
 I asked the question just to see if time had allowed you to hone in on some further plans for that second week is all. I am good either way. Just hoping you have an epic trip. No I have no plans hinging around that time, which is why it works well for us.

Thanks Tom, as I know you are, we're very busy right now and it's hard for me to stare at a map for a couple hours to make some choices. I'll let you know! 

@Old Greenhorn (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=42103)

Tom, if you are really up for it I think we'd like to take up your offer for some driveway space. I made an executive decision yesterday, because plans weren't coming together otherwise.

Please, please consider if you don't want us to show up. I don't want you being resentful at the very generous idea and I'll totally understand, you won't hurt my feelings if you've reconsidered. I also don't want you feeling like you've got to babysit some weirdo strangers in your driveway.

I'm thinking we'd be in your neck of the woods afternoon/evening of June 20th and if you are willing we'd stay the 20th and 21st nights? Heading out on the 22nd. I think we'd be interested to see the Woodstock field, maybe the maritime museum you'd mentioned (dang, also closed the days we'd be there!) and I think I saw some weird giant stone sculpture thing (https://opus40.org/ (https://opus40.org/) just up the road from you, ah! nevermind, they won't be open!) that looked neat to go see.

Also, I sent an email to the guys at From the Forest, thanking them for the show, and I mentioned that we may be up that way to see some of the places they mention on the show, and Ryan said to let them know if/when we were in the area and to stop by CFA to meet them (I thought that was very nice!), maybe we'd try to see Gary Mead's place too.

I don't have a good sense of how traveling in this beast will really be and how long to expect to spend at different places but I think it'd be cool to hang out up there.

Let me know what you think. Thanks again! And for real, if you've reconsidered please tell me. I think we'd be gracious guests but I don't want to be any trouble. I've hosted folks on my property a handful of times and I never really mind, so long as nothing gets torn up, but I also know sometimes, even under the best circumstances, people don't want company.

your trip looks great and the perfect age to take the kids.
I did a similiar long distance trip years ago in a rented RV.
I discovered you do not go as far as google says you go in a day. Plan on an 40mph average
I also found that it is best to stay 2 nights so that you have a day of sightseeing, otherwise it will seem  like you are doing nothing but driving.
I would spend the 2 weeks doing the trip you have planned out with some sightseeing on the way home.
Have a great trip with the Family.
My daughter still talks about our trip, and I bet it was 20 years ago.

I would not make an offer if I intended to change my mind. Before I even mentioned it, I checked my calendars and also checked with the boss. The offer still stands in full force. I think I can keep those days clear to play tour guide and I note that you will be arriving on a Monday and I will have to do some checking to see what's open. We are in a tourist area but a lot of these places shut down in the early week because their heavy business is on weekends. 
 You've picked a good list of local stuff. I don't know that Ryan, John or [the other fellow] will be in the office for a visit as this is their busiest time of year, but maybe with an appointment? Right across the road from the CFA office is the Delaware & Ulster RR station. I don't know what they have during weekdays. https://durr.org/ (https://durr.org/) Arkville is 30 minutes west of us.
 Opus 40 is also a great choice. I have only been there for music events and never done the tour. My friends are giving a concert there on the 25th. It's 15 minutes north of us on backroads. I note that it is only open Thursday-Monday during the summer.
 I don't know what Woodstock field you speak of. If you meant the '69 concert site, that never happened in Woodstock and took place on Yasgur's dairy farm, 80 miles SW of us in Bethel, NY. More clarification is needed there.
 I see the Maritime Museum is not open on the days you will here here. I have sent a note off to a buddy who sits on the Board of Directors to see if they plan expanded summer hours. Even if they are not 'open' there is always stuff going on and folks working there. Unfortunately, the Apollonia will not be at the dock on those dates. It will be downbound with a cargo load, stopping at Kingston on the 29th during the upbound run.

 Knowing the constraints of this sort of trip, things can change on route and you should feel free to adjust your time here as needed. If you decide to skip it altogether I would understand that too. Your family deserves a memorable vacation. Your accommodations here will be spartan, yet comfortable but I want to make sure you know what your are choosing. At this point, I think a phone call is in order for details. My number is on my website, and I KNOW you know where that is. ;D Call me when you can.

 I am looking forward to it.
 

Right on, Tom, thank you! 

I've been looking at stuff to find yes, just about everything is open long weekend hours (if we got there early Monday we may be able to visit some places but I've already booked a campground until Monday morning, in NH). We'll see what that ends up meaning, but I'd imagine we'd be fine with just taking it easy too, we're pretty good at that. I'd be fine just hanging out next to the river near the Maritime Museum, that sounds neat!

The Woodstock field is the one of concert fame, and yeah, I thought I remembered that it wasn't that close to your place.

I'll give you a call sometime, but may text you first, so I don't catch you ankle deep in sawdust at the mill. 

I'm looking forward to it also! It should be pretty cool! I guess I should warn you that I'm a pretty mellow fellow. Regardless, of my interactions here I'm usually pretty quiet and awkward!

Thanks again man! This is neat!

I think you will find me pretty much the same way with a sometimes dark sense of humor (born from my fire and EMS days).
 Actually today is a great day to call as I am laying low trying to get the pain out of my back. I have to get cutting some mushroom logs for an order this week, but no way can I think of that today.

Got an answer back from the Museum. They are discussing adding to the summer hours (just for you) and he expects they will add Wednesday's shortly. That would be the 22nd. Let's see how it all plays out.
 Also, I just went out and checked the RV outlet box I installed in the driveway over 30 years ago. My son mentioned that it has not been usable for a while. Sure enough, I tracked back to some wiring changes in the shop that messed up that circuit and I never noticed it. (The original wiring is a nightmare and I am always finding and correcting errors I find.)  It's fed by an old box with plug fuses, so I have to go fetch some, but it will be back up and running. Hopefully you can live with 20 amps of 220v. If not, I have another plan. (There is always another plan.)

Stephen1- Thank you for the notes! We do plan on 2 days at any of the few "big" stops, I'm figuring the same an afternoon to get settled in a location, a day to see the sights, then sleep in the same place, so we aren't moving too much. 

I've also planned as much backroad driving as possible and taken navigation times and usually added an hour+ to them. I'm a big fan of seeing something weird or neat and slamming on the brakes to stop and check it out. 

OGH- Aww, sweet to the museum! Don't stress about power and the like. We've got the onboard generator if needed. I'm not positive what all needs the rv needs as far as 20amp, I can't imagine we'll do much other than charge phones and run the lights. There isn't a TV or anything in there, though my kids may have something to watch a movie on or something. You're the man! I'll give you a call in a few hours.

I forgot to mention that I also have a couple of WiFi spots you can access, one is in the shop about 30' from your spot, so the kiddos should be good on that score.

   Heartily agree with @sawguy21 (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=1763) .
   If you push too hard everyone will be miserable.....guaranteed 😬. Depending on your families habits try to get up in time to have some breakfast and break camp by 0900. You may need to dump tanks so allow time for that. 
   We are retired so don't push each day as long as we once did so about 300 miles is tops for us these days. We like to stop between 3-5 in the afternoon and get setup while there's plenty of daylight then stretch our legs (and the dogs), happy hour and some dinner. 
   Also suggest you plan your itinerary (very important) around that time frame or less depending on how good of travelers your family members are. Make reservations in advance  for your overnights (longer if you intend to stay for awhile in the area).
   Often campgrounds fill up quickly and the last thing that you want to do is be driving late with everyone tired and unable to find a campsite. Ask me how I know these things 😳. With some planning and a realistic time frame and schedule you can make a vacation to remember for the entire family!! Happy Camping!
    PS; You will not make the same average miles per hour in a camper due to fuel and potty stops plus you cannot safely drive as fast as you might normally due in your regular vehicle. 

Thanks JD Guy! So far our biggest driving day will be from the Detroit area to Four Mile Creek State Park, near Niagara Falls, clocking in at ~390 miles, with the average day's drive of 290, mostly backroads (for better or worse). I've got all overnights booked at this point other than one or two coming from OGH's place heading home. Now that I've got those couple days nailed down I hope to find something on the path back without much trouble but we'll see how that goes. Rest areas would be fine if they have to be. I'm already looking forward to Happy Hour!

We've made it to stop one! Pulled in at about 830p. Beautiful!


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Oh yeah! Story of my life will be road trips plagued with very, very heavy rains. We snuck out in front of this one by maybe a half hour or so and stayed dry! Good sign! We listened to the radio talking about 60-70 mph winds, at home, and hail and lots of people without power. I'll take it for once!

Well, today is Tuesday, so you must be headed to the Ford Museum. Have a great time! It's June. so expect some afternoon showers as you head east. I don't see any all day rain events in the next week, but that can change. The forecast here is for some Monday night rain and some rain on Tuesday, but that can change a lot in a few days. The maritime Museum did add to their summer hours just this week and will be open on Wednesday's now. Your call if you want to slip that in before you leave town. Drive safe and enjoy the ride. Looks to me like you are settling into it just fine. :D :)

Yup! Ford museum was very neat, unfortunately the Greenfield Village was just open to wandering, none of the buildings were open but it was still cool.

I was seeing rain on Thursday for Niagara falls, hopefully that's changed but we'll be alright even if not.

I think we're a yes for the maritime museum, we've got a short drive for Wednesday nights camping, so we can stay in your neck of the woods until afternoonish. 

That should work. If I get a spare minute during business hours I will give them a call to find out what's going on and see if my buddy on the Board might be there.

I dropped an email to my buddy and he just replied and asked when we would be there. I took a good guess and he says he will try to be there and maybe give us a tour of the museum. Unfortunately the Solaris (one of their tour boats, solar powered) is not running on Wednesday's except for private booked tours. I know he Captains that boat some times, but I don't think it's available or he would have hinted at that. Anyway. Lets see how it goes and take it as it comes.
 The last time I walked through that museum was in '94 and it has come from the 18th to the 21st century since that time. I am looking forward to this.
 I hope this fits into your plans.

Sounds great!

Today was Niagara Falls. It's been good and hot everywhere so far but the good part isn't so much good. We got cooled down in cave of the winds, then I paid 87 dollars for lunch. 

Niagara Falls is neat, it's amazing how much water there can be. I'll try to upload some photos when I have a solid signal. 

Really?! Hot up there hah? Never got over 70 here today and it looked like you had showers pass through a few times so I figured it would cool off quite a bit. We may have a little rain here Tuesday afternoon. Too soon to tell.
 Y'all are on the road again tomorrow for a few hours, right?

Yeah it was 80+ and didn't rain until we were heading back to the campsite. Then it got hot again.

Here's some Niagara Falls! 


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The view from our campground was pretty nice too. Four Mile Creek State Park Campground. That's lake Ontario. 

If you looked close you could see Toronto, but the better pictures are on my good camera. 

There's some pretty big critter in the middle of the tree on this, it looked too big to be anything but a small bear but I don't know... 


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Tonight, after what felt like a billion hour drive, we made it to Piseco Lake, in the middle of New York. Little Sands Campground. Also very pretty, we're just here for the night then off to New Hampshire tomorrow. I didn't have a camera on me when it was still light out.


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OK, after reading this and yesterday's text messages, I had to go look it up. Yeah, when you said you like to stay off the beaten path you weren't kidding. No wonder it took a lot of driving. You must have gone right through Booneville! Too bad it's not 2 months later.
 OTOH, you did see a lot of nice country. :D Now you're going to have another long one to get down to the Thruway this morning. You have a long drive today too.
 It will be interesting to hear your stories when you get here. If long drives and lost wallets are the only issues, you are doing well!

We left Piseco at about 1030 this morning and finally arrived in New Hampshire at about 830p. That was after a lunch that took about 2 hours and hitting the laundromat. Not bad but I'm exhausted.

Our view, but again it's dark. 


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I hope you guys have warm clothes and the heater in your rig works. The high for tomorrow is 35° up top if I read it right. I see they are calling for snow showers also. It only hit 60 here today with a lot of wind. Tomorrow might hit 70 with more wind.
 Enjoy the ride!

I'm not sure if the kids packed well enough but we'll see! It'll be neat if we get snow! Heater does indeed work very well, it's on now! 

Are you driving the RV up Mt Washington? 

No, Southside, they won't let us. We are taking The Cog, a little train that goes up 38 degree incline (presumably it goes down that too).

Sounds like the road up the mountain is pretty serious and I'd like to drive it but not this time, I guess. 

i have driven up there a couple times. its not that bad. coming down its low gear and keep the breaks cool. are you going on the steam train? while up there look at the old wooden building and the size of the chain going over it to hold it in place. it will be cold and windy at the top

Lots of pictures incoming... 

We made it! It was an incredible experience! I thought 70 bucks per ticket was high until we did it and other than some annoying tourists (as with anywhere) it was almost as good as it could have been. At the base we were looking at around 50 degrees and overcast. Make note of the clouds in the second picture. 


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We hung around for a while after getting there early to see what was happening, couldn't see the top of the mountain. 

We hopped on the train and got ready for the journey up. 


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As we went, slowly, it started getting noticeably colder and cloudier. 


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Making it to the top the weather was nuts. They've got a computer monitor showing the weather over the past 10 minutes, average of 55 mph winds with gusts in the 84 mph range, not sure of the temperature but cold as the dickens, looks like with the wind chill it was 9 degrees. 


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These lunatics climbed up to this spot, I was too scared to fall off the mountain. I think OGH's mention of 100' visibility was generous. You couldn't see any of this stuff until you were right up on it. There was a giant building and some towers you couldn't see until you were within maybe 50'.

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Notice how much ice was growing on the tower! 


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We did not pay extra for the steam train but it did pass while we were on the way down. It was neat and you could see the smoke/steam billowing out for quite the distance at this point.


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By the time we'd returned to the base the weather had cleared up and you could see the top. As we drove back to the campsite you could clearly see the buildings and stuff that you previously couldn't until you were practically in them. 


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All in all it was a very cool trip and highly recommended for anyone to check out. I'm kind of sad that it didn't clear up while we were up there but it was great to experience how crazy the weather could be (though from what I understand a gentler weather than some). 

The Cog was finished in 1869, and I can't imagine the trouble it took to do it. It's looney tunes in today's standards and apparently people would stay in a hotel up top. Nuts.

Oh yeah, the Cog is an actual sprocket that engages the track so you aren't using the wheels but to keep you going the right way, the sprocket notches your way up. Pretty slick. 


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Very cool! Great pictures 👍

Thanks for the tour. Fantastic job with the pics. I don't owe you $70, do I? :)

Very cool little tour and pretty much what I would expect for your day. Really pleased you enjoyed it. This is @peakbagger (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=44288) 's home turf and he is one of those hikers and I also know a lot of those 'crazy folks' who make the climb and I used to be one of those types in a previous life. ;D
 I watched the weather there today and saw the opening which it turns out was as you were on your way down. Yes, today was a mild day as things go. I'm just tickled you had a good experience and will be interested to hear the tale tomorrow. How did the kids enjoy it, I wonder, or did they spend the entire time freezing? :D
 Your phots are great! Nice tour.

Thanks y'all! It's hard telling how much I'm spoiling the place by posting too many pictures. I expect there are a lot of places that you see a handful of pictures and say, yup, I've been there. This shouldn't be one of them. This is kind of a wonder of the world.

This was a neat experience if you haven't done it. Several times, through the wonder of it all, I was giggling like a little kid. It's amazing they can get that much stuff up a hill like this. In the late 1800s.

Then the Devil's Shingles... Basically, 2x8s strapped to the receiving end of the Cog and a race to see who can get down the hill the fastest. If my math is close they were probably doing about 65 mph down the hill.

I think the kids liked it and will like it more as the days go on, but I think it was a shock to us all, in a perfect way but this was really neat and crazy! 

Something like that, absorbing the phenomenal capacity of the natural world up close and personal, takes a bit of time to absorb. These things are in many ways perspective changing. I will be interested to hear what your kids can tell me of the day tomorrow.
 I once got caught in a whiteout on top of the continental divide in July. I was wearing cut off jeans and a tank top (I had been trout fishing in a stream) and was standing on the side of the interstate with a trucker and neither  of us could see the road, so we just sat there. It was surreal.

Glad you enjoyed The Mountain. 
It's not clear at the top too often, meaning seeing for miles.
It's kinda odd how the weather can change in just about 15 minutes. You don't realize the change in elevation.

You have picked  some great points  of interest  to visit on this trip. My wife's aunt lives a couple  miles  away  from mt Washington and we would never travel  up there until August.  There  are some great  mountain  streams running over the granite boulders and pools that are off the beaten  path and warm by mid August we enjoyed also. Some great fishing  in that area if you fish. Are you headed for Cadillac mountain in Arcadia to see the sun rise? Can't  wait  to see your  next pics. 

What a great adventure!

Kids are funny about trips and adventures.  They act all unimpressed and half bored.  Then you will hear them later telling their friends how cool the whole thing was.

I only go up there in good weather with a good forecast and this weekend was definitely not good weather for hiking. It's supposed to be 40 and sunny at the summit today. Looks like you got one of diesel Cogs, they only run the coal fired steam ones during off peak hours as they are slower and tie up the track for longer. The owner of the cog is trying to permit hauling up custom sleeper cars and leaving them there for the summer and early fall for overnight accommodations just below the summit. They are making lots of improvements.  I actually avoid the actual summit as it tends to be a zoo. Still rehabbing from a broken ankle so I havent been up there this year, but have been up on the summits on the east side of the Franconia Parkway. Hopefully you had a chance to hang around and visit the Notches, Franconia, Pinkham, Dixville and Evans along with the Kancamangus Highway are all nice drives.  

Sad to say someone did not pay attention to the forecast and got caught on Saturday on Mt Clay which is just to the left of the track before the final run up to the summit. Hiker's desperate text to wife prompts 'high-risk' mountain rescue, NH officials say (yahoo.com) (https://www.yahoo.com/news/hiker-desperate-text-wife-prompts-201908342.html) No news if the person survived. 

Aigheadish, Thanks for sharing your adventures on Mt Washington!  It brought back memories of August 1951.  Was touring out there in a new 1951 Chevy w/a power glide tranny.  Not allowed to drive up.  So we were driven up in a 1946-7 or 8 Ford woody station wagon! 

We were told the hiker died...

SawyerTed, I think you are exactly right about the kids. 

Peakbagger - they talked about "race the Cog" which is runners seeing if they can beat the Cog up the hill. It looks like they have an opportunity to make some money doing neat stuff as there seems to be increased interest in getting back to nature. We won't hit any of the places you mentioned, our time in NH is short and we're on the way to OGH's today. 

Thanks for the kind words and stories gang! 

Further reading indicates there were at least 3 other rescues executed that same day for folks who got in over the heads in that area. Peakbagger will tell you this is a regular occurrence in that area and happens way too often. The weather conditions are not to be trifled with and they give no quarter. Doing a climb like that alone is foolhardy for anyone who has not hiked that path several times in varying weather before. Even then....
 We have similar issues here in the Catskills but of a MUCH smaller scale, summer snow almost never happens after June 1st but the wind, rain, and especially hail can put a hurtin' on ya quick. I used to hike quite a bit and would often find myself coming down from a days climb to see folks headed up that trail that shouldn't be. You just know they are setting themselves up bad experience. I would see it in all seasons

 Once coming down from an 8 mile loop I ran into a couple dressed in shorts and t-shirts with sneakers (sorry, Running Shoes). They each had a shirt tied around their waists and a small bottle of water for the two of them. I asked where they were headed, and they said 'the top of course'. I mentioned it would take them a few hours and some spots required use of the hands to climb. I told them it was colder up there too, with a stiff breeze and advised them to turn around.  The said "We'll be fine." The male asked what they would find on the top. I told him a great view, one of the best in the area. He said "no, what I meant was, is there a restaurant up there, or at least a snack bar or something?" I knew they were in trouble and I was only 10 minutes from my truck. So I got back, grabbed a notepad and wrote down their descriptions. I checked the trail log and they had not signed in. There were only a few cars in the lot, so I wrote down the license numbers and vehicle types. Then I looked up the Ranger's number for that area. I planned to call him with the info as soon as I got a signal. Just as I was pulling out, I saw them coming back down the trail.
 Stuff like that would happen all the time. Once or twice I got myself in a tight spot, but I was properly equipped and clothed and recognized my (our) situation early and made adjustments to get out safely. Once was downright scary, but we survived on our own and nobody died so it was a good day. ;D

   Sounding like a great trip. I had never heard of a cog railway till we took the one to Pikes Peak last August while out at a family wedding. I think it was 25% at places and I can't imaging a 38% one. Stay safe. Remember you're welcome in WV when you get the chance.

Ran into a couple like that one time OG, well more than once but this time was unique. They were headed to a Phish concert and took a very wrong turn. We were only about 6 miles up gravel roads when I spotted their Jaguar heading west, next stop on that road was Daquaam Quebec, and it was 90 miles of nasty gravel road to get there, but there is a locked gate at the border and fuel is about 4 more miles past the gate. That's assuming they stayed on the right gravel road. 

Got them turned around and pointed in a better direction, which was better for me as I would have been the one searching for them when they made one last call for help after realizing they were lost. 

Speaking of being a dumb flatlander, I once went up to the summit of Sandia Peak outside Albuquerque, on a warm May day (down in the valley).  Once we were at the peak, at nine or ten thousand feet, whatever it was, me in my shorts, t-shirt, and of course, sandals, found it hard to enjoy the place as I shivered.  I wouldn't do it like that again.

It doesn't even have to be poor weather or changing weather.  

We were campground hosts last September in Hanging Rock State Park.  One Saturday night we were sitting outside, a woman walked up and asked, "Where the 4311 am I?  I've been hiking seven hours and haven't seen Tory's Den (a cave on a trail) yet."  

She parked at a parking area 200 yards from Tory's Den - she hiked the wrong way on the trail which is apparently a seven hour hike. :D :D :D 

My brother just returned from a trip to Mt Washington.He has a newer car with CVT transmission.He said he was scared to death coming back down.Transmission wouldn't hold back and he pulled off several times so his brakes could cool off.He said he couldn't see anything when he got up on top.I would like to see it .Supposed to have the highest winds recorded in the USA

That sounds like quite the adventure! We see situations frequently where hikers go into the mountains unprepared, all too often it doesn't end on a happy note.

Our driveway is 28%, a cog railway would be cool.
I didn't know anywhere at Hanging rock was 7 hours away, she must have taken several walkabouts. But then, I spent a weekend lost in Linville gorge in the rhodies in the fog, I doubt I was ever more than a few miles from the car  :D. Happily the southern mountains are pretty forgiving.

It's easy to get turned around. Humans generally go downhill when lost, even if it's a slight grade they will  head that way.  My wife and I were visiting the Lava Tubes park area in northern California years back and one of the tubes goes in maybe 20 yards, you have to squeeze by a big boulder and you come to a puddle / pond.  I have this on tape.  So we find the puddle and I squeeze around the other side of the boulder heading back out, my wife follows and says something about "another room", so me being me I squeeze back around the boulder again and back into the puddle area, well she follows and exclaims that we found "another pond".  I did this two or three times more and she was convinced we were 100 yards down into a cave when some folks came walking "out" of the cave - when they were actually walking in and were maybe 30' from the surface,  she starts to tell them about the chain of ponds when I could not keep a straight face any longer.   :D

Quote from: sawguy21 on June 20, 2022, 10:18:23 PM
That sounds like quite the adventure! We see situations frequently where hikers go into the mountains unprepared, all too often it doesn't end on a happy note.

Common problem in the local Mt (there is only one). But you can walk an hour from the carpark, be well above the tree line, and have the weather change to a freezing blizzard. If they loose the trail they can slip off a ~100 ft bluff trying to get down. 

Other folks have died in spite of having a cellphone and search crew knowing pretty much where they are. Simpy couldn't reach them because of the conditions, got maybe 1,000 ft away, but night time, solid ice, white out, side of a Mt and 60+mph winds. In good weather they might be 30 mins from the car park. 

Mt is only ~8,000 ft, but on average it claims a life a year. 

Quote from: Wlmedley on June 20, 2022, 10:00:35 PMMy brother just returned from a trip to Mt Washington.He has a newer car with CVT transmission.He said he was scared to death coming back down.Transmission wouldn't hold back

CVTs I've driven usually have a "manual" or "sport" mode? It's still a CVT, but it simulates a tiptronic manual. Lets you lock it back to a lower gear for engine braking like a normal gearbox. 

Might be labelled as "Sport", because it also lets you keep the engine revs up when you are in tight corners and on and off the gas. But just left in D, yeah you are basically freewheeling. 

You guys are making me happy I don't hike. I'd like to think I'm smart enough to be prepared and I was the only one in my family who packed well enough (despite warnings) to be at the top of Mt Washington for a bit, but I save all that trouble by not going. I'm sure I'm missing some beautiful stuff but it also sounds like some possible trouble.

Southside- a phish concert in a jaguar, I think, is all that needed to be said! We could make assumptions from there! 

Don P- We were trying to find our campsite at Piseco Lake. I had the address 1113 Old Piseco Rd. and thought everything was cool. We get there and pull up next to a garage that has 1113 on it, so I thought we had it right until, we looked down a very steep driveway (had to be 30 degrees or more) to see a few houses. We'd driven past looking for the place and didn't see any signs or anything, and we'd seen some campgrounds that had a house on site for the owners, or whatever, so I thought maybe this was it and we just couldn't see the actual campsites. My wife offered to walk down the driveway to see if it looked correct but I said "let's just go for it". We did and ended up going down a very steep driveway, in the RV, to find it was just a house. Luckily, they had a turn around that we just barely fit around and started but up. Well, we got stuck on the way back up. Between the house that was right on the driveway and the garden just opposite my back passenger side tire got caught in the garden and started spinning. Uh oh. The wife got out to confirm my lawn job and to give some guidance. There ended up being just enough space to back up a bit and still swing the back of the RV around to not hit the house, so into 1st gear I go, smelling burning clutch as we climbed the hill. The wife then wrote a note of apology and we put in 20 bucks and we headed on. Turns out the campsite was very well marked, very easy to access, but about a half mile further down the road. The wife thinks she saw a camera on the house so hopefully they got a good laugh out of it. 

Old timers would ride a board back down the cog tracks on Mt Washington:
https://www.thecog.com/the-devils-shingle

Did You Know? Devil's Shingle - Mount Washington Cog Railway - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE0B6T4jTU0)
The devils shingle smiley_devil_trident

completely Nuts!

    JJ

The claim was making it down the 3 mile track in about 2.5 minutes, hauling!

Edit- the site JJ posted says 2:45. Still crazy fast, sounds like fun! 

That is nuts!

We've been the honored guests of OGH for the past couple days and it's been a treat. Last night was bs'ing by the fire today Tom took us on a lovely little tour of Woodstock and some of the Catskill area. It's a neat place and I feel special to get the OGH treatment! We're planning to head to a Maritime Museum tomorrow and then we'll be on the path back home. It's been a lovely trip but I'm getting excited to see my bed again.

Oh yeah, I've been planning this trip for months now with a significant amount of detail and just yesterday my son helped me realize that I totally missed a day. We were expecting to get home on Friday, but somehow I screwed that up and we'll get home a day earlier. I'm not sure how that happened. 

Sounds like your having a great time 👍👍

news story monday?someone died on a mt next to mt washington. it said winds to 80mph and blowing snow died of exposure

I think that happened on Saturday, snowstorm, unless there was another, but I think it was clear up there on Monday. 

RV tripping in Woodstock that's going to be a good story. Sounds  like you had a great  vacation with  the best part saved for the end in a premium shaded level site with  water, electric,  beer, and a local tour guide.

Yes a hypothermic hiker was rescued and carried to the top of Mt Washington on Saturday. He was brought to a local hospital but he could not be revived. Sad story as he was texting his wife near the end to call out a rescue. 

We made it to the campsite in Pennsylvania and some tatted up jackass already honked at me because I stopped the RV for 5 seconds to look at something, then got out of his big ol' truck to say something but gave me a dirty look instead. Stay classy Pennsylvania.

This site will be fine for the night, though I somehow forgot to get a site with sewage hookup, but we've already dumped and about to have dinner. I'm ready to go home, tomorrow is showing to be a 7 hour drive, meaning it may take up to 10... 

I've followed your posts.

Sometimes making memories is easy and sometimes no so much!

You might need that extra day to rest!   :D :D

I most certainly will. I'm actually pretty pleased to have screwed up the timing.

Usually, when we take vacations, I take a few days on either side, to be at home and resting from the trip. This time we'd only had the weekend so an extra day is lovely! 

Well Austin, I know your time here wasn't very exciting, perhaps a bit boring for the kids. Sorry about that. It's early in the season and as you now know, our schools aren't out yet so things are a little slow, tourism wise, during the early part of the week.
 None the less, I really enjoyed your visit and taking you around, such as I might. You have a fine and handsome family there. I wish you safe travels.

   Glad you guys have been having a good time. Maybe WV will be in the schedule next time.

  We try to leave flexibility in our schedule and only lock down the depart and return dates. Then if we get somewhere we like we can stay longer, if we find something we are not interested in we can leave early and most important if we encounter something unexpected and interesting we can add it in the mix. Obviously some events have to be nailed down but where possible we leave room before and after.

It was a treat, Tom!

For what it's worth the kids have spent most of the time in the camper, so it wasn't just your place. They'll still look back at this as one of the best trips, they just don't know it yet.

I really can't say thank you enough. It was great to hear yours and the Mrs. stories and nice to meet someone face to face who I've gotten to know online. The time we spent there was lovely and I'm sure I'll remember it for all my days.

Thanks again! And as mentioned, if'n you find your way to the Dayton area be sure to hit us up!

For anyone reading this who hasn't quite figured it out yet- Tom has lived quite the life and has some really neat experiences to share.

Also, WV Sawmiller, I'm sorry we didn't get down your way this time and I really appreciate your offer for space as well. I'm considering if the RV life is worth investing in and if we do I'd like to take a southern trip as well and maybe we can find you then. Thanks to you as well. (ha! This was typed while you were responding too!) 

This is a great community and I've really enjoyed sharing this experience with you guys!

I took a trip to Dayton Ohio once when my son was about 10 years old.A guy I worked with told me about the airplane museum.It was very interesting and worth the trip.

The air force museum is great, beyond that and some decent eating establishments and breweries, it's a pretty quite town. I love it.

We've got a several nice parks and excellent history if you look into it. A lot of cool stuff has come out of Dayton. 

Quote from: aigheadish on June 22, 2022, 08:33:20 PM
.......

For anyone reading this who hasn't quite figured it out yet- Tom has lived quite the life and has some really neat experiences to share.

.....

Sorry, I wasn't aware of this. I do tend to ramble on at times though. C'mon back anytime. And yeah, next time we get near Dayton we'll certainly look you up!

Nothing to be sorry about, Tom!

On another note, it's great in Dayton! We're home! 

My normal vehicle vs my recent vehicle. I can't wait to drive my wee little car again. It goes when I want it to. Both cars at home, Honda Civic and Honda Passport fired right up after 12 days of sitting around


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/63516/20220623_185025.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1656026801)


On the left, I haven't driven her yet but I'm excited to. Probably tomorrow or the next day. 

Quote from: aigheadish on June 23, 2022, 03:58:36 PM
Nothing to be sorry about, Tom!

On another note, it's great in Dayton! We're home!

8) 8) 8)

Austin,

   I was thinking about you guys this afternoon. We were returning from our anniversary lunch out and turned off I-64 about 10 miles from home and got behind a motor home with a big 450 engine apparently. It had California plates and looking at the A/C on top I figured he would never make it down the road he was on due to low hanging limbs and such. Also there were some hairpin curves on a steep slope going down. After about 3 miles the road intersected another even smaller road and the guy pulled off at an ancient log church named Pluto Baptist Church. The community name is Pluto. We pulled up beside him and my wife asked him if he was lost. I started to ask him if he had seen the movie "Wrong Turn" but I declined.

   The guy said "No, this is where I was heading. I teach Astronomy and am going to take my picture standing here so I can show and tell my students I have been to Pluto." 

   We left him there. I should have told him I had visited the Martian Embassy in London (Its across from Green Park and about two blocks down from the Hard Rock Cafe if it is still there. Be careful crossing the street as they drive on the wrong side of the toad there and wipe out lots of visiting American Tourists that way.) and see if he wanted to go see it.